Hartalika Teej: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Hartalika Teej is a women's vow kept on the third day (Tritiya) of the bright half of Bhadrapada, in the late monsoon, usually the day before Ganesh Chaturthi (in some years the same day). Women fast, many without water, worship Parvati and Shiva in images shaped from sand or clay, hear the story of Parvati's devotion, and keep awake through the night. Married women pray for a long and happy married life, and many unmarried girls keep the fast as Parvati did.

It is kept in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and with special joy in Nepal, where women gather in red saris to sing and dance. In Karnataka and among Telugu families the same day is Gowri Habba or Swarna Gowri Vratam, the worship of Gauri before her son Ganesha arrives, usually the next day.

Two other Teej festivals come earlier in the monsoon: Hariyali Teej, on the third day of the bright half of Shravana, with swings, green clothes and songs, and Kajari Teej, on the third day of the following dark half. Each has its own day in the app.

Why it is kept

Parvati's austerity. Parvati, the daughter of the Himalaya, wished to marry Shiva, who sat lost in meditation and cared nothing for the world. Kalidasa's poem the Kumarasambhava tells how, when her beauty alone could not win him, she turned to austerity. In R. T. H. Griffith's translation: “Penance, long penance: for that power alone / Can make such love, so high a Lord, her own” (The Birth of the War-God, canto 5). She lived in the forest through heat and rain and cold, until Shiva came to her in disguise to test her, saw her steadiness, and accepted her as his wife.

Why "Hartalika". The vrat katha of the day adds a story of friendship. Parvati's father had promised her to Vishnu. Her friend, knowing her heart, took her away to the forest so that she could keep her vow to Shiva. Families explain the name from "harat", taken away, and "alika", friend: the festival of the friend who took Parvati away. The Vratraja, a digest of vows, gives the same reason: the vow is so called because Parvati was taken away from home by her friends. In the forest, on the third day of the bright half of Bhadrapada, Parvati shaped a linga of sand, worshipped it, fasted and kept awake all night, and that night Shiva granted her wish. The vrat katha says that a woman who keeps this vow with faith is blessed in her married life; that is the story's own promise, told here as tradition.

Women together. Teej is also the joy of women together: songs, swings, henna, new bangles and visits to the mother's home in the monsoon season.

The texts behind the story

• Kalidasa, Kumarasambhava, canto 5 (Uma's austerity). R. T. H. Griffith (tr.), The Birth of the War-God, 2nd ed. (London: Trübner, 1879), Project Gutenberg transcription. Griffith died 1906: public domain. Quoted verbatim. (Canto Fifth, "Umá's Reward")
• The Haritalika vow in the later digests (Nirnayasindhu, Vratarka, Vratraja), the Vratraja's reason for the name (Parvati taken away by her friends) and its story told by Shiva to Parvati, and Madhava's rule for a Tritiya mixed with Dwitiya and Chaturthi. Read in P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1958). Kane died 1972: cited, not quoted. (vol. 5, part 1, pp. 144–145)
• Hartalika vrat katha (Parvati's friend takes her to the forest; the sand linga and the night vigil): tradition, printed in vrat-katha collections. Summarised in our own words.

When it is kept

Hartalika Teej is the Shukla Tritiya of Bhadrapada, kept on the day on which Tritiya is present at sunrise at your location, even if it lasts less than a muhurta after sunrise before Chaturthi begins. If Tritiya is present at two sunrises, the second day is taken, because there it is joined with Ganesha's Chaturthi; the app also shows the first day, which calendars that take the first sunrise keep. If Tritiya is present at no sunrise, the day on which it begins is taken. These are the Dharmasindhu's rules. Hariyali Teej (engine id hariyali-teej) is the Shukla Tritiya of Shravana at sunrise, and Kajari Teej (kajari-teej) the Krishna Tritiya that follows it, in Bhadrapada in the purnimanta calendar.

The date, from the calendar engine

• Hartalika Teej 2027: Puja falls on Thursday, September 2, 2027 in Washington DC (computed for this city). In New Delhi it falls on Friday, September 3, 2027.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• North Indian and Marathi (Dharmasindhu): Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya at sunrise; the second day when it holds both sunrises
• Calendars that take the first sunrise: the first day when Tritiya holds both sunrises (the app shows it too)
• Nepali: Haritalika Teej
• Kannada and Telugu: Gowri Habba or Swarna Gowri Vratam on the same day
• Hariyali Teej and Kajari Teej: earlier in the monsoon (engine ids hariyali-teej, kajari-teej)

Why the day can differ

Sunrise is local, so Hartalika Teej can fall on different dates in different cities, and the fast ends at your own sunrise the next morning, not India's. Families differ on whether the fast is waterless, on who keeps it, and on whether the images are immersed the next morning or kept until Ganesh Chaturthi; follow your family's custom.

How to keep it at home

1. The day before, many women apply henna and lay out new clothes and bangles. On the morning of Teej, bathe and make the sankalpa, the vow to keep the fast.
2. Shape small images of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha from sand, clay or a little flour dough, and set them on a low table decorated with banana leaves, flowers and a canopy if you have one.
3. In the evening, worship with water, kumkum, flowers, bilva and other leaves, fruit and sweets. Offer Parvati the signs of a married woman (suhag): bangles, sindoor, a red cloth. Hear or read the Hartalika vrat katha with the other women.
4. Keep the night with songs and prayers, if you can; many women stay awake in turns. Prayers often said: "Om Namah Shivaya", the Parvati or Gauri prayers the family knows, and Teej songs.
5. Next morning, after sunrise, do a short puja, immerse the images in water or a garden by family custom, and break the fast with prasad.

Fasting

Many women keep Hartalika Teej as a nirjala fast, with no food or water from the morning until after sunrise the next day. Many others drink water or take fruit and milk, which is a full way to keep the vow in many families. Anyone who is pregnant, nursing, diabetic, unwell, elderly or on regular medicine should not keep a waterless fast and should talk to a doctor before fasting.

Food

The fast is broken with simple prasad: fruit, sweets, and in many homes thekua, gujiya or kheer. Teej sweets include ghevar in Rajasthan and many fried and milk sweets shared among the women.

For children

Parvati, the daughter of the mountains, wanted to marry Shiva, who was always deep in thought. She went to live in the forest and prayed to him every day, in sunshine, rain and cold. Her best friend helped her and stayed by her side. At last Shiva saw how patient and true she was, and they were married. On Teej, mothers and aunts remember Parvati's patience and her good friend, sing songs together and swing on swings.

Something to do together

Make a small card for your best friend, saying thank you for one way they help you. Help decorate the puja place with leaves and flowers.

Sources

• Panchang engine rules hartalika-teej, hariyali-teej and kajari-teej (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources each lists, including the Dharmasindhu for the later day, joined with Chaturthi.
• R. T. H. Griffith (tr.), The Birth of the War-God, 2nd ed. (London, 1879), canto 5. Public domain.
• P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona, 1958), pp. 144–145 (Haritalika). Cited, not quoted.

Related guides

• Ganesh Chaturthi
• Karwa Chauth
• Vat Savitri
• Hariyali Teej (Shravani Teej)